What do you call that poor rube at the luggage carousel...
 

...who tugs and grapples at every dang black bag that passes in front of him or her?

For some reason, I've noticed this phenomenon more and more lately. You know the type: usually just one bumpkin per flight who hurriedly pounces on each bag, pulls it up, examines the tags n' stuff, then lays it back down on the belt. Over and over again. I just wanna slap 'em!

After a bit of contemplation, I've come up with a name for them: Carousel Monkey.

Anybody got a better name?

(I did search FT to see if anyone else has discussed anything like this yet, but I didn't find any posts)

Luggage Lout - esp. when he acts all offended when you politely (really) point out he has your bag.

I have noticed this happening far more in Asia. How do you not recognize your own bag? Many look similar, true, but still. Your bag is clown nose red canvas and they poke around looking at the tags of a brown leather bag. I don't get it.

That person is not as bad as the person who sees a "black bag" grabs it and walks off... only to realise that it's not their bag when they get to the hotel.

I'd prefer a "Carousel Monkey" than the person I describe above

"Claim jumper"

3 Words: Short Term Memory ;)

That said, I actually wouldn't put this type of behaviour, myabe not as extreme, past some of my best friends and family... :cool:
If you travel very rarely I guess you wouldn't necessarily know your own suitcase that intimately. Although you would expect them to remeber it was polka-dot-pink and not 13-to-a-dozen black.

I hated seeing those people who do that, and when I had a black bag I would always pick up one or two bags before I actually picked up mine.

That is why I now buy uncommon colors for my baggage. I don't care what it looks like, I just want to be able to see it as soon as possible and not make any mistakes. Green and orange are the colors I have now for bags and I haven't seen anyone pick them up on the baggage carousel.

3 words: Flyer Talk Tag

Locates it every time!

I always try and get to the carousel quickly before they come out, and then stand by the chute.

I've always hated the fact that generally:

1) there is no security to stop someone walking off with your bag (either by accident or design)
2) that if stuff does get lost or damaged, the compensation is so small

This just encourages people to carry too much hand luggage which isn't good for anyone.

A couple of years ago, my mother couldn't see her bag at London Gatwick. Eventually she made a report and went home. Only to get a phone call from someone who had taken hers by mistake. It was an old lady. Her son then drove through the night to my mother's house to return it. The old lady was completely distraught - it was an honest mistake but the poor woman felt she has become a thief. On top of all that they then had to return to the airport to try and find her baggage.

You should come to Philadelphia some time. At baggage claim (at least for US), the only security is for your suitcase that arrived on the stand-by flight you were trying to get but weren't allowed because you checked your luggage :confused:

Anyway, back to the OP...I like to call these people tourists.

I hope you're not one of the carousel bullies that I don't like. You know the ones that stand right up next to the edge of the carousel, block the view of others behind them, and don't allow room for anyone else to squeeze in to pick up their bag when they actually spot it?

Honestly, I wish everyone would just approach the carousel when they finally see their bag.

My large bag is royal blue with silver wheels. My rollaboard is a dark green that has faded so that it matches no one else's bag. I haven't bought a black bag since 1997.

I just think of them as "infreqent travelers" and try not to be condescending by calling them a rube or a monkey. Also, consider that since their job requires them to travel less than you, they might be your boss or your client.

A tag-flipper. They see a tag and feel COMPELLED to read it before it gets away.

The ones I find to be a greater PITA are the people who MUST stand with their shins directly up against the carousel bumper, even when their bag is nowhere in sight. I'm strong enough to get my bag off the carousel without help, but I'm short, so I've got to give it a good jerk in order to clear that bumper. I politely ask people to stand back, but they usually ignore me, so sometimes I just end up belting 'em with the bag.

People who let small children stand up against the bumper deserve a special place in h***. Have your kids sit on the floor about 10 feet back, or strap them in a buggy, or something, but keep them away from that bumper! Not only it is annoying to trip over them, but it is very dangerous for the children.
Mine know that Mom will come down on them like a ton of bricks if they venture too close.

This is FT. carousel monkey is too benign; you have to call them carousel lice

Kind of like how people "are supposed" to approach the gate when their seating area number is called to board their flights? :p Its just not going to happen in this lifetime.

Even before I had FT tags on all my bags, I was easily able to identify my Costco black bag.

Lets stop being so PC...the correct term is IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I agree on the kid thing, there is NO reason children should be anywhere near the baggage claim device, sorry to the "my children must experience everything in the world" parents but it is just rude to everyone else.

I'm the opposite of a claim jumper. I've stood at the carousel (at a respectful distance of course), watching my bag go 'round and 'round, until 20 minutes later the message sinks into my jet-lagged brain, "hey, dork, that's your bag."

Am I the only one? :)

How about a 'Samsonite Stroker'. Perhaps he needs some therapy.

Of course, he's probably lucky he doesn't get trampled by the mad rush of people to stand next to the carousel, as opposed to standing at a distance and walking up and getting your bag when you see it. I would hate to have to hipcheck granny, but I will.

Great point. I hang back, spot my bag, and woe be it to those "Carousel Bullies" in my way...I hope that a few of them have learned not to be such space hogs.

Same here... I stand 2-3 feet back from the carousel. If there are people lined up against the carousel when I have to take off my bag and the bag hits them, TOO BAD! :D. As for kids, I try to make sure there are none around.

I've been to a couple of conventions with my coworkers and we all have identical carry on bags that our company gave to us a couple of years ago (black with our logo on them).

Mine have a pair of hot pink crocheted slippers (bought at a craft fair in Hawaii -- unfortunately, I can only crochet bananas) dangling from the handle. None of the guys I work with have ever mistaken mine for theirs :)

I tend to agree with the previous suggestion of "idiots". Recently I saw a guy pick up every second bag that went past and inspect it before putting it back until he finally located his bag. The strange thing was that he picked up bags of many different colours and descriptions, it wasn't like he picked up a bunch of bags that actually looked similar.

I usually use a smallish Tumi suitcase which is the ubiquitous black in colour, but which has a Qantas platinum luggage tag (not all that common at IAH and SFO, which is where I'm usually picking it up), and another bright green tag that says "You're not my owner!", and therefore shouldn't be too hard to identify as "not mine" for everyone who isn't me. I recently had to grab it out of the hands of someone who looked perilously close to walking off with it (unfortunately it happened on one of those days when I just wasn't in the mood for any inconveniences, so I handled the situation with less grace than I probably should have).

My father. :p

He is pretty paranoid that someone else is going to walk off with his luggage if he doesn't get it off the carousel ASAP. For my first solo plane trip at the age of 16, he got the biggest permanent marker he could find and wrote our last name in 3-inch high letters on all four sides of my bag "to make sure no one thinks it's theirs." Fortunately, I have since replaced that bag. :D

Or better yet, when you're standing a few steps away from the carousel in order to keep from doing exactly what you describe, and someone comes up, usually with a baggage cart, and stands right in front of you. Worse yet, I find my usual tolerance for this kind of crap extremely lacking after a 14+ hour flight.

I have just tied colored ribbons onto all handles of my suitcases and my wife's suitcases...I actually noticed some other person back in June who had done the same thing, but this has made for easy and quick identification especially for my wife when she is travelling alone.

One time last year while I was getting the rental car I watched my wife almost kill some poor soul with one of our suitcases because the guy just had to be leaning over the luggage carousel like he would miss his bag and would not move and basically made it impossible not to hit him although with my wife I wouldn't bet against it not being just an accident :)

I've been trying to think of a better one than this for a while, and I can't.

Luggage straps
 

My husband and I use rainbow colored luggage straps to make our bags stand out. Very seldom do we see another bag that looks like ours.

There is a company that makes personalized luggage straps and I have thought about ordering one that says "Nacho Bag" or "Hands off my bag". Something like that. I wasn't sure I really wanted my name on the strap.

Years ago we marked our bags with duct tape. My mother puts a large yarn pompom on her bag. I am surprised that more people don't mark their bags uniquely (or at least distinctively) to avoid such confusion.

I'd be inclined to think this person was trying to decide which bag was most worth stealing.

I actually like claim jumper, but this term immediately makes me think of the guy who kicks back and grabs a coffee waiting for the luggage to start coming out of the chute. When the bags arrive, he then pushes his way through the folks bunched up at "the good spot" (the chute opening), saying "excuse me, that's my bag," etc. while a perfectly good open location on the conveyor belt is available about 30 feet down the line.

[flame retardant suit on]

For those who fly often to/from Bangkok and Hong Kong, you are aware of the "security" stickers that can quickly accumulate on luggage. My bag probably has fifteen of them (and it is not even black to begin with)! But I still find my luggage being inspected while it makes its way along the conveyor belt to where I am standing. I could never rationalize hanging one of those green tags or red ribbons on my bag if all the stickers were not enough to make it obvious... I think folks are going to do that regardless of the various adornments on a piece of luggage.

No.... of course not! I stand opposite, but leave good a few feet between where I stand and the edge. That way others can dive in and get their bags with plenty of "swing".

As you say, what's really annoying is having left a bit of space, someone will try and squeeze in front of me or to either side. That way everybody's blocked in so that when they grab their bag they've got nowhere to put it except on other people's toes.

Wow. I think *I*'ve seen that bag. Way to distinguish! The "This is not your bag" is becoming more popular, but the Qantas tag isn't. ^ The (insert what we choose to call them here) tend to stay away from my bags ever since I put two FT tags on each one.

For the term, I prefer "idiots," but not in a blanket way. Someone innocently examining to see if a bag which looks extremely similar to theirs is in a much different category than the character quoted above looking at all sorts of bags. I hope he was doing luggage research for his next purchase.

I've actually seen several bags with tape or paint reading THIS IS NOT YOUR BAG.

All bags look the same to me, apart from my bags. The small Tumi I use for shorter/European trips is distinctive. My bigger M&S bag for longer trips looks anything but distinctive and very much like the type of wheeled case that any tourist would have. However, it is blessed with very distinctive silver coloured wheels so I never have any problems spotting it.

The one thing I always do is is check the name tag; just in case :).

A bright color ribbon should be sufficient to help me identify my bag.

I also put a luggage strap on mine. Beside serving its purpose, it also helps me identify which bag is mine.

I have a piece of bright orange tape wrapped around one of the handles with my name in big letters on it, and a bright orange luggage strap around the bag. People still pick it up and look to see if it's theirs.

I don't often have luggage in the hold, but when I do, mostly camping gear, I never a problem identifying it. Invested in one of these. Only once in over five years have I ever seen another one on the same carousel.

Don't forget that some of these people are actually looking for their travelling companions' bags, which may not be as immediately familiar to them as their own. I can spot my own bag from 20 paces (and frequently do), but if I'm flying with my partner, I'm looking at all the tags to see if it's the bag I need to pull.

Yes, the "halo" rule from football should be put in place at the carousel. Stand two yards away until your bag is present.